Resolution Found in Michelin Thailand Dispute

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) reports that the two-month dispute between Michelin in Thailand and rubber workers backed by ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemical Workers’ Federation (PCFT) has come to an end. The disagreement, which involved the company’s factory in Laem Chabang, Chonburi Province, was resolved by tripartite dialogue and, says the ICEM, its “strong intervention”, along with that of French union FCE-CFDT and Michelin’s European Works Council.

A lockout of 383 of the 1,500 employees at Michelin’s Laem Chabang factory began on March 25, after these workers allegedly refused to withdraw their names from an anti wage cut petition circulated earlier in the month. Meetings throughout April failed to resolve the standoff between the two parties until it was determined on April 28 that the workers in question would be reinstated.

While the 13 per cent wage cut will go ahead, it has been agreed that employees will receive a previously agreed upon two-month bonus. Employees choosing not to return to work will receive financial assistance as set out under the relevant Labour Protection Act’s severance provisions. Michelin will apparently not press any legal or criminal charges against employees that protested at the factory gates during the lockout.

According to the ICEM, workers at the Laem Chabang works received strong support from staff employed at Bridgestone and Goodyear factories in Thailand, as well as from workers at other Michelin plants in the country. “This is a hopeful sign, that workers, managers, together with government mediators can resolve differences through proper social dialogue,” said ICEM general secretary Manfred Warda. “The ICEM views this dispute as a result of the paralysing global financial crisis and our wish now is that this tyre plant recovers so that renewed orders and sales will benefit workers.”